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Saturday, August 1, 2009

Keeping Up With The Joneses

I played around with my Jones line last night and made some decent progress. That family had been a brick wall for some time. I couldn't get past my great-grandfather Frank Wiley Jones. Then someone contacted me and shared that Frank's father had been killed in the Civil War. That prompted me to go to the scene of the battle and find the memorial at the courthouse. I wrote about that discovery here.

So for a while, I knew Richard Jones' death date, but that is all. I assumed he was born in North Carolina like everyone else in his family. When I went to the NGS conference in Raleigh, I joked at all the genealogy booths "I'm looking for a Jones in North Carolina. Have you seen one?" I suspected Richard Jones was from Buncombe County, since his son Frank was born there. However, there was no record of Richard. There were lots of other Joneses in Buncombe County, but without a name I was out of luck.

Two weeks after the NGS conference, I got a name. I was researching Frank Wiley Jones and I found a book that listed his grandfather as Wiley Jones. Bingo. Richard's father was Wiley Jones. I had to research the grandson to find the grandfather. Once I looked up Wiley, research got easier from there.

Wiley's parents are Ebed Jones and Mary Wells. Last night, I found their cemetery photos on Find-a-Grave. These are my 5th great grandparents and their photos are just sitting there on the Internet. How crazy and cool is that?

The rest of last night I spent learning more about Wiley Jones and his children. Wiley and wife Anna Duckett are supposedly buried in Jones Cemetery in Leo, Texas. Since there isn't much to Leo, Texas, I'm wondering if the cemetery is overgrown and forgotten. I live 5-6 hours away, so I probably won't have my answer until I can plan a trip to get it.

Also, last night I learned that Wiley's son, my great-great-great grandfather Richard Jones was the oldest son. He had many brothers and sisters. The Jones family have quite a history in north Texas. And here I thought I was the first in my family to move to the state. We've been here for ages.

8 comments:

Congratulations on reaching the end of the trail. I am envious of your success! I've been trying to find that generation too and skipping around with grandchildren, but no luck thus far. I will have to keep trying, so as not to be one-upped by those Joneses.

What an Eureka moment....I am still struggling to find the great great grandparents and the siblings of my great grandparents. I think my problem is due to the fact that the great grandparents were all born in Europe.

Amanda, you're right on all fronts. I think the C.N. Jones author is the brother of my great-great grandfather, Frank Wiley Jones. However, I can't confirm it until I get my hands on a copy of the book.